The Hidden Child
by Bracting
Summary: The Hunters of Artemis come across a young boy by the name of Percy in the middle of the forest. Nothing was too unusual, that is, until someone noticed the striking resemblance he shared with the Second-In-Command. Review!
1. Chapter 1

**The Hidden Child**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor plot, all rights belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

San Francisco.

The location of Mount Othrys and the Gardens of the Hesperides.

Zoë Nightshade absolutely loathed being here. It caused too many memories to resurface, both good and bad. It always caused her to remember the certain son of Zeus who caused her to lose her home.

No. Her home is with the Hunters of Artemis, loyally serving alongside their mistress. She has nothing to remind her of her past mistakes. She's surrounded by her sisters whom make her happy, so why is she still reminiscing about events that occurred two millennia ago?

Clearing her mind of past thoughts, she focused on the task at hand.

There were reports of monster gatherings in the San Francisco area, which is unusual as monsters aren't known for their strategic power. Clearly, someone was leading them.

Her mistress was away on Olympus for a meeting, something about Zeus' infidelity. As the Goddess of the Hunt's lieutenant, she was currently leading the two dozen huntresses through the woods.

Earlier today, before Artemis left for the meeting on Olympus, she sensed divine activity in these parts of the woods. Zoë's task was to find out what was happening.

Monster gatherings and divine activity in the same city? Something big was clearly going on here, she knew it.

She suddenly halted, seeing something unnatural laying on the ground. Putting her hand up, she ordered the huntresses to stop. She pulled out her bow and notched an arrow, and action mirrored by the rest, pointed it at the bundle of white and black.

Moving closer, her aim still on the object, she soon realized that the object wasn't an object but in fact, a boy.

He was laying down, face on the ground, appearing to be unconscious. He was wearing a dirty white chiton, one too large for his small body. He had messed up dark hair with sticks and leaves sticking out and tanned skin.

Suddenly, the boy began to stir, putting all the huntresses on alert.

The boy sat up, raising his arms into the air and stifling a loud yawn. Once over, he allowed his arms to drop back down and opened his eyes, taking note of all the armed girls in silver surrounding him.

Now that Zoë could see his eyes, they felt oddly familiar. They were onyx colored orbs.

"Where am I?" He asked tiredly, his voice was quite high, he was clearly a child.

"Who art thou?" Zoë demanded, not one to let her guard down, especially near a boy, even as young as he was.

"I'm Percy," the boy frowned, "I think."

Zoë narrowed her eyes at the boy, her bow still drawn, she looked quite intimidating, yet the boy wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "What do thou mean?"

Instead of answering the boy, Percy, dashed the fifteen foot distance between him and the lieutenant. His speed was so great that if Zoë had blinked right before, she would've thought he teleported in front of her. What he did next surprised her even more than his unnatural speed.

"So shiny..." He said in awe, stroking her silver parka as if it were a pet.

The huntresses would've opened fire, had it not been for their temporary moment of stunned shock. A little boy, no older than six, just completely disregarded the two dozen arrows pointed straight at him and ran towards one of those arrows, all because of shiny clothing. Clearly this child was not in the right state of mind.

Coming over her temporary shock, she took a step back, away from the odd child. Then, she kicked him with her booted foot across the face, sending him skidding across the dirt covered ground.

Once he came to a stop, he slowly sat up, his hands clutched onto his nose which were leaking blood. "What was that for?" He asked, his eyes beginning to water.

Usually, Zoë wouldn't feel remorseful in causing a male pain. In fact, she would typically be quite elevated, even if they were children. But for whatever odd reason, seeing this child on the ground on the verge of tears because of her, she felt guilt.

Ignoring the foreign feeling, she asked again, "What do thou mean, _boy_?"

"I'm not telling you, you're a meanie!" He pointed his index finger towards the lieutenant, his other hand still covering his bloody nose.

Zoë frowned at the boy's incompliance. "Fine. Phoebe restrain thee."

"What does restrain mean—Hey what are you doing?" He asked as Phoebe began wrapping his wrists together using a thick rope.

"Be silent." Phoebe said, not even bothering to look up at the child. Truthfully, it had been a long day for her. That and add this strange meeting in, she was too tired to enforce her typical man-hating ways, so she settled with just telling him to be silent.

Percy pouted, but made no move to object. He wasn't necessarily afraid of these armed girls, but he still knew if they were all to attack him, he would be in danger.

Having finished tying the rope around the boy, she pulled him up and off the ground before shoving him towards Zoë, which was quite easy as he didn't weigh much. The huntresses began trekking back to camp along with the restrained boy. Percy decided to follow, though he didn't have much of a choice seeing how Zoë was holding onto his rope with a tight grip.

It was awkwardly silent for a few minutes. The huntresses didn't feel comfortable making casual talk with a boy among them, and said boy didn't know anyone in the group. Add to the fact he was basically being held prisoner by them.

"So," Percy attempted to break the silence, "You know my name, what's yours?"

Zoë ignored him, choosing to continue her hike.

"You're so booooring," Percy groaned, drawing out the 'o'.

Atalanta, a daughter of Apollo, began to laugh. It was a quiet laugh, but it was noticed by the silent huntresses.

"What is so funny?" Zoë asked, irked by the recent events.

"It's just, you two remind of how me and my little brother interacted," her laughter died down, remembering her deceased brother. "Now that I think of it, you two could probably pass as siblings."

Zoë shot her a confused look before looking back at the trailing boy. Now that she thought about it, they sort of did resemble the other. They had the same colored dark hair, sun kissed skin, and the same onyx colored eyes. No wonder his eyes seemed so familiar when she first saw them, they were the same ones that stared back at her whenever she gazed at a mirror.

Zoë chalked it up to a coincidence. Percy, however, had no such intentions.

"I've always wanted a big brother," he joked, causing Atalanta to return to her previous mirth-filled laughter, though louder. Even some huntresses began smiling a bit. Zoë scowled and continued, but not before pulling at the rope, almost causing the grinning boy to lose balance.

"Not nice." Percy pouted.

The rest of the trip was mostly spent in silence. It took about half an hour, as they had to walk so the child could keep up. Whenever Zoë looked back at Percy, she would see him closely observing the surrounding woods and small creeks they by passed with curiosity. It almost seemed as if this was his first time seeing such a thing.

Once the group entered the camp's perimeters, the others scattered to go about on their own. Zoë, with a firm hand still on the rope, led a hyper six year old towards her mistress' tent. She knocked on the wooden pole near the entrance. As expected, the silver eyed goddess opened the covers, probably having returned from Olympus and decided to wait for them.

Artemis smiled at seeing Zoë before frowning in confusion at the sight of her holding a restrained child. She gestured for her to enter, which she promptly did. Once inside, Artemis sat at her desk while Zoe took a seat on the extra chair, Percy standing beside her, observing the animal pelt filled room with wide eyes.

"How did the mission go, Zoë?" Artemis asked, elbows on the desk with her chin resting upon her knuckles.

"So your name is Zoë!" The boy observed.

"We didn't find who the traces of divine energy belonged to," Zoë admitted, ignoring his comment, "But we found this... thing." She turned her gaze towards the excited boy. Upon being called a 'thing', Percy pouted.

"And who may you be?" Artemis asked, curious as to why he was in the woods.

"I'm Percy, I think," he smiled, then held out his hand towards the seated goddess across the desk, "What's your name?"

It took Artemis a moment to realize the boy wanted a handshake. After all, it's not every day a male offered a handshake to the supposed 'man-hating goddess'. Artemis reached her right hand out in a gentle handshake.

"Artemis."

"Woah, like the moon goddess?" Percy asked, letting his hand drop from the handshake.

Artemis smiled slightly. "Indeed, very much like the moon goddess."

"How did thee escape thy restraint?" Zoë asked, bewildered.

"That's so cool!" Percy exclaimed, ignoring Zoë.

"Yes, it is," Artemis agreed. "Now Percy, what did you mean when you said you think? Do you not know your name?"

Percy's expression turned into a frown. "Well I think that's my name. I don't really remember much, other than the name Percy. I also remember a big man holding something that looked reaaaaally heavy over his head."

"Could you elaborate the part about the man?"

Percy's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "What's an elaborate?"

"It means to explain," Artemis explained.

"Oh. Well he had this really big ball over his head," Percy widened his arms, in an attempt to show how large it was, which only served to entertain the goddess. "It looked really heavy because he had both his arms holding it and he was still struggling, like it was trying to crush him! I'm not sure why but I felt the need to help him."

Artemis shot a worried glance towards Zoë who had a disbelieving look. "Percy, could you come here so I can see if I can find anything else?"

Percy nodded his head before walking around the desk and doing something which caused Zoë to do a double take. The boy jumped up and sat right onto Artemis' lap. Had it not been for the importance of the situation, Artemis would've probably thrown him off.

"You're a lot nicer than Zoë!"

Artemis nodded, absently, before placing her hand on Percy's forehead and closing her eyes. Soon, she gained an exasperated look. Her silver eyes fluttered open, filled with irritation.

"What's wrong, milady?" Zoë asked.

"He has a powerful barrier protecting his mind," Artemis frowned. "I can't tell whether he's telling the truth or not. He'll have to swear on the Styx that he's being truthful."

Percy tapped on Artemis' arms to get her attention. "Why would I need to swear on some sticks?"

"River Styx," Zoë said, as if it explained everything.

"The River Styx is a sacred oath. Breaking this oath causes severe punishment," Artemis clarified.

"Oh," Percy deadpanned. "I swear on the Styx that I was being truthful."

Thunder rumbled loudly outside, sealing the oath. Percy let out an indignant shriek at the sound of the thunder, causing Artemis to laugh.

"Thee is scared of thunder," Zoë smirked.

Percy crossed his arms with a pout but didn't remark.

Artemis touched a finger to Percy's forehead, causing the boy to close his eyes and slump into the goddess' arms. "Going by how he wasn't punished, I believe it is safe to say he was being truthful."

Zoë nodded. "But what shall we do with him?"

Artemis thought about it for a moment before deciding. "We should keep him around for a bit. The mental barrier was rushed meaning it'll slowly degrade, giving him his memories back with time. I believe he may have an important role to play."

"Milady, do thee believe he is talking about _him_ when he speaks of the man holding a ball?" Zoë asked, worry lacing her voice.

"It is highly possible," Artemis sighed. "But, no point in pondering the possibility, time will tell. For now, inform the others of the recent events. I'd rather not have our source of information turned into a pin cushion."

"Yes milady," Zoë bowed, before exiting the tent, leaving Artemis with the unconscious child.

With another sigh, Artemis set Percy down onto her bed, before leaving to do her nightly duties.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey guys, another new story lol. I actually planned this one more than my other stories though. I usually just go along with the flow in my other stories, but I have a basic idea of what I want to happen and Percy's background is set.**

 **I would be updating Son of Time but I only got like 4 reviews last chapter and I'm super demotivated to update right now. So instead, I decided to write this.**

 **Anyways make sure to review, really keeps me motivated. Tell me anything, you could say something like 'It was good' or 'It sucked' but if it is negative, please tell me what I can do to fix it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Hidden Child**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor plot, all rights belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Percy woke up and found himself laying on something quite comfortable, a bed, he realized. There was a thin, yet warm, silver blanket covering him up to his neck. This was quite a nice way to wake up, especially compared to the hard floor he woke on yesterday.

How had he gotten here though? The last thing he remembered was talking to Zoë and Artemis, then, he felt a warm touch on his forehead before his world went blank.

Percy slowly got up, immediately missing the warm comfort of the bed, and scanned the room he was in. It was quite large, and had nearly a dozen different animal pelts of all kinds covering the space. There was a desk with two chairs on either side of it. That was where he was before he blacked out, he realized.

Deciding he needed to figure out what was going on, Percy exited the tent.

The moment he stepped foot on the ground outside, he was on the receiving end of dozens of angry glares. Though he had no idea what he had done to receive such hostility.

Ignoring the glares, he observed his surroundings. It was night time, the moon was shinning brightly. All around him were tents of all sizes and colors. There was a large wooden pavilion with lunch rectangular lunch tables.

What really caught Percy's attention, though, was the tent with over a dozen large wolves.

He sprinted straight towards the tent, surprising many hunters with his lack of fear.

At the very front was a large wolf with shining yellow eyes and midnight black fur. It was standing proud on all four legs, displaying it's amazing height of eight feet.

Percy stopped right in front of the large black wolf. Volcanic black orbs met with glistening yellow ones, curiosity clearly showing in both, though.

Slowly, Percy extended his hand, reaching to touch the wolf. The wolf remained in place for a few moments, only eyeing the little boy in front of him curiously. Then, the wolf sat down on all fours, becoming a perfect height so that child was just able to stroke his head.

Grinning widely, Percy moved his hand on top of the wolf's head before stroking his fur wildly. Then, Percy ran around the wolf, past the it's head, and sat on his torso. The wolf didn't seem to mind.

Percy finally seemed to notice the audience gathered. There were about ten or so huntresses all looking at him with wide eyes.

Their wolves aren't pets, they're trained hunters. None would ever let anyone, even children, pet them, especially not the alpha of the pack. So how is it that this child was able to not only pet, but also ride the biggest and strongest wolf?

It seemed though, that one huntress by the name of Zoë, was not impressed.

Striding forward to stand in front of the wolf and the child, she put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "What are thee doing?"

"I'm playing with my new friend!" Percy said, stroking the wolf's fur.

"He is not thy friend, he is an animal," Zoë's eyes narrowed in anger.

"He is my friend! Aren't you uh.. What's his name?" Percy asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"He does not have a name."

"That's not right," Percy frowned. "We should call you Aegeus!"

The wolf let out a howl, indicating he liked the idea.

"If thy are done playing about, Lady Artemis would like to speak to you."

"Can Aegeus come?" Percy asked cheerfully.

"No." Was the lieutenant's immediate answer.

Percy crossed his arms stubbornly, turning his head to the side. "Then I'm not going!"

Zoë glared at him for a full minute. Most grown men would've fallen under the intense gaze of the two millennia old lieutenant. Yet, here this child was, standing strong after a full minute.

With a defeated sigh, Zoë muttered, "Fine, the mutt may come."

"He's not a mutt!" Percy shouted, flailing his arm in the air.

Zoë ignored the boy, choosing instead to begin her walk towards the chosen meeting place. Aegeus followed behind silently, a pouting child sitting atop his back.

They walked in silence for five minutes before they arrived at their destination.

In front of them was a large lake, the moon reflecting off it's calm blue waters. Sitting right on the edge, where the water met with the earth, was an auburn haired girl. She was looking out at the moon, enjoying it's sight. If she had noticed them, she made no indication.

"Hey Artemis!" Percy called out, getting off his ride.

Artemis turned around to face the group of three, if you counted the wolf. She shot Zoë a curious look.

Zoë looked at the wolf and the boy tiredly. "The boy insisted we bring the mutt."

Percy turned back towards her, putting his back towards Artemis and the lake, with a furious expression. "I told you he's not a mutt!"

Zoë's eyes went wide with fear, but it wasn't from the angry boy. No, it was due to what his emotions were causing.

Behind the boy, where the lake was, a huge storm was brewing. The previously clear and star filled night sky was now covered up by plenty of dark storm clouds. The once calm and blue waves of the lake were now crashing furiously onto the shore. Even Artemis couldn't help but be nervous.

Just as Artemis was about to subdue the potential threat, he doubled over onto the ground. Percy clutched onto his head with both hands, as if trying to take it off his body. He began letting loose screams of agony. The brewing storm responded to his pain accordingly, becoming even harsher than before. Even lightning began to flash through the skies.

At this point, Zoë's mind wasn't quite functioning, fear coursing through her. Her body, though, seemed to have a mind of it's own.

Running over to the screaming boy, she did something that surprised even her. Zoë picked him up from off the ground and cradled him in her arms. She had no idea where that action came from, it just felt right.

Slowly but steadily, Percy's screams of agony began to disappear. The dark clouds overhead scattered, returning the stars to view. The raging waves began to dissipate, till they were nothing but small and gentle waves.

Now, Zoe was holding a whimpering child in her arms with no idea as to what to do next. It seemed her unexplainable action had managed to calm the boy down. She silently shot her stunned mistress a look that screamed 'help'.

Artemis snapped her fingers, conjuring a comfortable chair in front of her lieutenant. Zoë set the boy down onto the seat, but subconsciously kept tight hold of his hand.

His eyes slowly fluttered open tiredly. He looked around, scanning his location. If he noticed Zoë holding his hand, he didn't comment.

"How are thee feeling?" Zoë asked, crouched to be the height of the boy, though still holding his hand.

Percy managed a weak smile. "Never better."

Artemis walked up to the duo. "What exactly happened?"

"I don't know," Percy admitted. "I felt something in my gut, like a tug. Then, I was looking at a woman."

"This woman, what did she look like?" Artemis asked. "Describe her as best as you can."

"She was wearing a really pretty green dress and it had a belt of shells. Her skin and eyes were white, they shined really brightly but she seemed sad. She was saying something, to me, I think, but I couldn't tell what she was saying." Percy explained.

Artemis had a look of thought plastered on her face as she stared at the ground intently. She clearly had some sort of idea as to who this woman was. She looked up towards the boy, "Do you have any connection with water?"

"Water?" Percy frowned. "It looks pretty, but it's also kind of scary. It always seems so violent and angry."

Artemis nodded, seeming to have expected something like that. "We'll discuss this more later, for now let us talk about what I originally asked you to come here for. Percy, I believe it'd be best for you to stay with us for a while."

"Why's that?"

"You don't have anywhere else to go," Artemis said smoothly. It wasn't a lie, just not the entire truth.

"That is true," Percy agreed contemplatively. "But where would I sleep?"

"Head back over to the camp, Zoë will give you your own tent."

Percy nodded before jumping off his seat, planning on sprinting towards the camp. But it seemed he hadn't realized Zoë was still holding onto his hand tightly. He fell back, banging his head onto the chair and falling into unconsciousness.

Zoë sighed. "I'll deal with him."

With a bow to her mistress, Zoë carried Percy back towards the camp, leaving Artemis to mull over the recent events.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry about the short chapter. I didn't have very much time to write but I wanted to get an update out for you guys since you seemed to like it so much. Seriously, 45 followers in the first 24 hours. Though I do wish we could've gotten more reviews since I only got 9.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless though. If you guys are wondering how the water reacted to Percy's emotions, it'll be explained later. The woman has something to do with it so if you'd like to try and guess who she is, go on ahead.**

 **Let's go for 25 reviews this chapter. That's less than half the total followers we have right now, you can do it. If there are 25 reviews by Wednesday, I'll try and get a 5k chapter out.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Hidden Child**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor plot, all rights belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Zoë instantly perked up from her light sleep at the warm touch on her shoulder.

Without so much as looking at the intruder, her huntress reflexes kicked in. Grabbing her hunting knife, conveniently located on the nightstand next to her bed, and put it to the throat of the intruder.

After a moment of standstill, her grogginess due to sleep cleared up, allowing her a good look at the person on the other side of her knife. Staring back at her were fear filled volcanic eyes, belonging to a black-haired boy. She relaxed slightly upon realizing it was Percy.

Bringing her knife down, in exchange adopting a glare. "Why art thee here?"

Most of the fear left Percy's eyes once the pointy object wasn't pointed at him, though some still lingered. He seemed hesitant, as if something bad might happen soon, but still answered the seething huntress. "Bad dreams." He said simply.

"Thee has come here due to nightmares?" Zoë asked irritably.

Percy nodded, a sad look on his face. It somewhat resembled that of a lost puppy.

Zoë's eyes narrowed in anger. "What do thee expect me to do about it?" She felt like strangling the kid, waking her up at this ungodly hour because he couldn't handle some dreams.

The boy looked down and began twiddling with his fingers nervously.

"Out with it, boy!"

"Can I sleep with you?" He mumbled.

Zoë was about to skin the boy for even asking such a thing.

Just as she began to bring her hunting knife up, she remembered her mistress' words from last night.

 _"Attempt to be somewhat welcoming. If we'd like to find out whatever information he has of **him,** then we need to make sure he stays around long enough for his memories to resurface. Think of it more as a mission. Once we're done, he'll be out of our hair."_

Closing her eyes tightly and taking a moment to breath, Zoë calmed herself down, somewhat.

"Fine," she sighed. "But you sleep on the ground, over there." She pointed towards the opposite end of the tent.

Regardless, the boy nodded enthusiastically, his expression now one of happiness. Percy sprinted out of the tent and came back with a sleeping bag, laying it at Zoë's selected area.

Zoë ignored the fact that a boy was sleeping in her tent, choosing to rather focus on her much needed rest.

* * *

Her internal alarm clock woke her up at sunrise. Sitting up, she put her arms up in the air and stifled a yawn. She spotted a blur of white in the corner of her tent. Using her hands to rub the grogginess away from her eyes, she took another look.

Percy was snoozing on his sleeping bag, still wearing his dirty white chiton. He really needed a bath and a change of new clothes.

There was something about his expression though, it almost seemed.. troubled. His eyebrows were scrunched up in frustration, lines marinating his forehead.

Suddenly, he began to squirm, as if in pain. Soon the squirm turned into a seizure like state, as his body shook violently.

Not knowing what else to do, Zoë rushed to the boy's side. She began to gently shake him in an attempt to wake up. His hand latched out, holding Zoë's forearm in a vice grip. Results of the contact was instantaneous as the boy stopped his erratic movement, heavy panting taking it's place.

The young boy opened his eyes, a wary look on his face. He carefully scanned his surroundings, relief soon overtaking the wariness.

"Are thee okay?" Zoë asked with gentleness that surprised even her.

Percy seemed to finally take notice of the arm he was clutching tightly and let go. "Uhm, yeah... I'm alright."

Zoë didn't buy it for a minute, but chose not to pry as that would result with more conversation with the boy. "Get up, we need to go get you some new clothes."

The boy looked down to examine his clothing before deciding that Zoë was right. He nodded before beginning to follow her out the tent.

Outside the camp was buzzing with activity, as usual. Huntresses were gathered around at the dining pavilion eating breakfast. Others were in small groups, just talking about casual things. Some were even getting early morning training in.

Zoë turned back towards the boy following her. "I must go tell Lady Artemis of our outing. Wait here and do not go anywhere, understood?" Percy gave a distracted nod.

With one last wary glance at the boy, Zoë strode to Artemis' tent. She knocked before walking in after hearing a 'Come in'.

"Milady," Zoë bowed.

"Rise. How is the boy?" Artemis asked.

Zoë stood up from her bowing position. "He is fine but that is actually the reason I have come here today. I believe it would be best for me to get him new clothing from the mortal shops."

Artemis nodded. "Be careful, and don't let him out of your sights, he may provide great intel on the enemy."

With one final bow to her mistress, Zoë exited the tent. She headed back over to the area next to her tent, where she last left Percy. She was not surprised to find him gone.

'Why were kids so troublesome?' Zoë sighed.

She headed over to the dining pavilion. Everyone had already finished eating breakfast by now and were doing random activities. She walked up to Atalanta and Phoebe who were in an intense arm wrestling match.

"Have any of thee seen Percy?" She asked, causing Phoebe to look up.

"Aha I win!" Atalanta shouted as she slammed the momentarily distracted huntress' hand down.

"Dammit," Phoebe cursed, looking back at the arm wrestle. She looked back up at Zoë with a confused expression, "Who's Percy?"

"The kid, Phoebe, I already told you this!" Atalanta said.

"Oh right," Phoebe snapped her fingers, "The kid you talked about so much. Do you have a crush on him or something?" Phoebe asked, wiggling her eyebrows in a teasing manner.

"I do not have a crush on a six year old!" Atalanta shouted, attempting to swat the back of Phoebe's head, but failing.

"Can one of thee answer my question?" Zoë asked irritably.

"I think I saw him playing with the wolves," Atalanta answered. "I still can't believe he managed to tame the alpha wolf so easily."

"Of course you'd know where he is, keeping tabs on him and all," Phoebe further teased.

"I just think he's funny," Atalanta huffed, her arms crossed.

"Thanks. And Atalanta, if thee art going to break thou vow for a male, make sure he is not a child," Zoë teased before swiftly walking away from the shouting Atalanta and laughing Phoebe.

She arrived at the wolf tent fairly quickly. Fortunately, Percy was there.

Aegeus, the wolf, was laying down on the ground outside of the tent. Percy was curled up into the stomach part of the wolf's fur, his eyes closed, probably asleep. Aegeus stared at her lazily with his glistening yellow eyes.

Zoë walked up to the duo, preparing to wake the boy up. Suddenly, the wolf curled his body around the sleeping child protectively and growled at her. Zoë could easily bring out her hunting knives if she needed to defend herself, but she'd rather not. She'd probably get injured if a fight were to break loose and if she were to kill the wolf it'd weaken the pack immensely.

So, Zoë put her hands up in a sign of peace, and slowly walked up. The wolf was still watching her closely and growling, but it wasn't as loud as previously.

She reached her arm out towards the snoozing boy. Slowly and gently, she tapped on his shoulder a few times.

"Five more minutes.." he mumbled in his sleep, further curling up into the wolf.

"I don't have time for this," Zoë said to herself. Then, she proceeded to violently shake him awake.

Too late did she realize just how big of a mistake that was.

The wolf stood up at his full height, allowing the child to fall onto the ground with a thump. Aegeus crouched, his muscles tensing up. He was preparing to pounce, Zoë realized. She only had moments to throw herself to the ground before his claws swiped at the spot she was previously standing at.

Zoë brought out her hunting knives, one in each hand, and got in a fighting position. Aegeus crouched once again, a motion similar to his first attack. She was prepared to put the wolf down.

But she didn't have to. A white blur suddenly tackled the wolf causing both the blur, who she recognized as Percy, and Aegeus to roll down the small hill. They soon come to a stop.

Percy got up and off the much larger animal and put his hands on his hips. "Aegeus, just because she's a meanie doesn't mean you can hurt her!" He chastised the wolf.

Surprisingly the wolf didn't show any signs of hostility. It just stood there on all fours, looking like an obedient dog as the six year old spoke.

Zoë had never seen the wolf so protective of anyone other than Artemis, Apollo, and Hestia during her rare visits. How was it that this child could tame the wolf on a level she'd only seen by gods?

Shaking her head of those thoughts, deciding that she would report this to Artemis later, she walked up to the two. "Come on boy, we must go to the city."

Percy turned around to face her with a confused look on his face, "City..?"

"It's where humans live," Zoë explained impatiently.

Percy nodded, though he was still confused. "Okay. Let's go Aegeus!"

Zoë frowned, already expecting this, "The wolf is not coming," she made sure not to call him a mutt again.

"Why not?"

"Because it would draw too much attention."

"Please let him come!"

"No," Zoë crossed her arms over her chest, "Now come along."

Percy pouted, "If Aegeus can't come then you have to carry me!"

Zoë stared at the pouting boy with disbelief for what seemed like hours before letting out a defeated sigh. "Thou are unbelievable. Fine, I shall carry you."

Percy grinned before facing Aegeus, "Sorry buddy, I'll see you later though!" Then he ran and jumped onto Zoë, forcing her to catch him in her arms.

* * *

Currently, the two were walking through the city sidewalks. Or well, Zoë was walking and carrying the awed Percy. He was observing everything in sight with wide eyes and mouth agape, this probably being his first time seeing such things.

Suddenly, he slipped away from Zoë's carry and ran off. With an irritated sigh, Zoë followed. She found him standing in front of the window of a store, looking at a television playing some sort of cartoon. She was about to drag him away when she heard someone near by speak.

"You look weird," a little girl with dirty blonde hair standing next to Percy said

Percy turned his head to face the girl speaking to him, "What do you mean?"

"You're wearing a dress!" The girl exclaimed, gesturing to his dirty chiton.

Percy looked down at his clothing before looking back up, "What's a dress?"

"You're funny," the girl giggled.

Percy shook his head, "No, I'm Percy."

The girl who was giggling before was now full out laughing. Once she managed to control her laughter somewhat, she reached out her hand, "Nice to meet you Percy. My mom told me not to give out my name to strangers but you can call me Moony."

Percy stared at her outstretched hand with confusion, "Why are you doing that?"

"It's a handshake, Percy," Zoë, who had been watching the conversation unfold with amusement, said.

"What's a handshake?" He asked.

He didn't receive an answer though as the girl, Moony, turned her attention towards Zoë. "Who are you?" She asked curiously. "Wait, you look at lot like him!" She pointed a finger at Percy, "Are you his sister?"

"His sister?" Zoë asked, "No, I'm not," though she was beginning to believe it.

"Oh, okay." Moony turned to face Percy, "It was nice meeting you but I have to go. Bye Percy!" She waved as she began to run towards a larger woman.

Percy waved back, a frown of confusion on his face. Even after the girl was out of sight, Percy continued to stare in the same direction with his hand now down.

"Come on," Zoë broke his stupor by grabbing his hand and dragging him along, glad she no longer had to carry him.

Only shortly after, they reached a clothing store. As expected of such a populated city such as San Francisco, the store was crowded. Zoë was beginning to get irked by all the stares she was getting, specifically from males.

"Zoë you're hurting me," Percy whispered in a strained voice, trying to keep his eyes from watering more than they already were.

Zoë was confused as to how she was hurting him till she noticed their interlocked hands. His hand was beginning to turn red due to her subconscious vice grip on him. She had been so infuriated by the lustful stares of the men that she forgot to control herself.

"Sorry," she mumbled, quickly letting go.

They walked in silence down the aisles until they reached the children's section. Zoë grabbed a dozen or so different colored shirts, pants, underwear, socks, and shoes before placing them in Percy's hands. She then lead him to the changing rooms which were conveniently empty for the most part.

Zoë stood outside waiting while Percy was inside the changing room. After a while of waiting and still no exit, Zoë began to get impatient. Deciding that there was nothing wrong with seeing a six year old change, she opened the door and walked in.

What she saw horrified her.

Percy was clearly struggling to put on the clothing. He had his legs going through the armholes of a shirt. Underwear was covering his face and he was trying to put on pants on top of it. And socks were on his hands, acting like mittens.

"How troublesome," Zoë mumbled, pulling the underwear and pants off his head.

Soon, with the help of one irritated huntress, Percy was fully clothed. He had on black jeans, a sea green shirt, and black shoes.

"I don't like this," Percy said, his eyes trained onto the jeans he was wearing. "I can't move freely."

Zoë smiled at his uncomfortableness. "As the humans say; too bad, so sad."

Percy looked at her strangely but decided not to comment on that. "Why can't I just take these off?"

"We are not going to have thee running round like a monkey. Now come on, we must head back."

"Meanie," Percy pouted, but did nothing as Zoë dragged him away once again.

They were about to walk through the doors to exit the shop when a lady stopped in front of them. "Ma'am you have not paid for t-" Zoë snapped her fingers and the woman's eyes glazed over, as if in a trance. Before he could question what had just happened Zoë resumed dragging him and out the store they went.

"What was-" Percy was cut off.

" _ROAR!"_

Percy and Zoë's heads both snapped in the direction of the loud sound. Standing there was a gigantic, hairy, naked man with the head of a bull. The only thing covering the beast was a large bright pink underwear.

All the pedestrians began running in random directions. The cars began honking and exceeding the speed limit, two cars even resulting in a car crash.

Percy had no clue what this was but it seemed the experienced huntress did. "Minotaur.." She muttered worriedly.

"Well, well, look what we found here," emerging from behind the roaring minotaur was a woman with flaming hair, white skin, red eyes, fangs, and one prosthetic bronze leg and one donkey leg.

"What do thee want, _empousai_?" Zoë asked coldly, her bow already out with an arrow knocked and aimed at said beast.

The _empousai_ laughed a beautiful but cold laugh. "We aren't interested in you, little huntress," she said, not even showing any signs of fear from the arrow pointed straight at her. She turned to look at gaping child, "You on the other hand, our lord has been looking for you for quite some while."

'Why would monsters want a child with no memories?' Zoë wondered.

"Woah," Percy said in awe, "Your hair is on fire!"

"Yes, it is. Now come with us so we may take you to our lord," she said sweetly. Her voice was latched with such powerful charmspeak that Zoë almost involuntarily took a step forward, even though it wasn't directed at her. Percy, on the other hand, didn't seem to be affected in the slightest, though he still seemed to be highly impressed with her hair.

Deciding she didn't want to see how long he could remain immune, she asked a question, "Who's your lord?"

"None of your business," she snarled, annoyed her charmspeak had not worked, before turning towards to her impatiently waiting companion. "Kill the girl, make sure not to harm the child."

Zoë believed the _empousai_ to be ridiculous, how could a beast as stupid as the minotaur understand commands? Her beliefs were quickly crushed as the minotaur charged.

Straight for her.

She threw her entire body to the ground, thankful the minotaur could not change directions while charging. Her right arm scraped right into the cold, hard concrete, causing her arm to turn red with blood. Zoë ignored the stinging pain, after all she had been through a lot worse during her time as a huntress.

She pulled her boy boy out from off her back and fired three arrows in rapid succession, each hitting it's mark. Unfortunately for Zoë, it would take more than a few arrows to kill the minotaur.

She stole a glance over at the _empousai_ only to see her approaching the child. She had a fake sweet look upon her face. Though she couldn't hear the conversation she was having with Percy, she could guess that she was trying to convince him to come with her with charmspeak.

With the _empousai_ distracted, she aimed her bow and fired another three arrows, two hitting it in the torso and one in the head. Needless to say, the monster dissolved instantaneously, leaving only the minotaur.

Before she could focus her attention back on the minotaur, she had the breath knocked out of her as she was tackled to the ground. She immediately went to grab her knives, intending to behead her assaulter until she realized it was Percy clutching onto her torso tightly. She was confused as to why he had just done that and a bit irritated but quickly got over it when she noticed the minotaur had just bulldozed through the area she was previously standing in.

What do you know, the boy was useful for something after all.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked worriedly, his head raised from it's previous position on her chest. She hadn't expected him to care for her so much after how terribly she had treated him, yet here he was, practically saving her life and worrying about her safety.

"I'm fine," she said gently before realizing who she was talking to and plastering on a facade of annoyance, "Now get off me before I skin thee, boy."

"Geez, a simple 'thank you' would've been enough," he muttered grumpily as he got off her.

She glared at him, "Stay back, boy."

"Fine, not my problem," he put his hands up in a sign of surrender before sitting down on the ground and staring up at the sky and acting like there wasn't a ancient greek monster trying to kidnap him and kill his 'associate'.

Knowing her arrows wouldn't get the job done well enough, she pulled out her dual hunting knives. The minotaur, who had previously gotten his horns stuck inside a garbage can, was now huffing air out of his nose while staring directly at her. Not soon after the minotaur charged, as expected.

Zoë leaped up high into the sky before falling back down, right onto the minotaur's back. She took her knives and started slashing wildly at the minotaur, all were shallow slices though. Suddenly, the minotaur jerked to a stop, causing her to go flying off his back and slamming right into a wall.

She was now in a sitting position with her back against the wall. She opened her eyes only to see a blur of what was previously the empty streets of San Francisco. She closed her eyes for a second before opening them back up, only to get nearly the same results. She tried to get up, but her body wasn't responding to her will as easily as it should.

Though the world was a blur to her, she could see a large brown thing moving towards her. Just as it was right in front of her eyes, she realized what it was; the minotaur. She closed her eyes, expecting her death to come soon, reuniting her with all the deceased hunters.

After three seconds of not feeling a thing, she opened her now clear sighted eyes knowing something was wrong. What she saw was probably the last thing she would've expected.

Standing there right in front of her holding in both hands a large black horn covered in golden dust was Percy. There was a pile of golden dust standing in front of him, it didn't take much detective skills to know it was the minotaur, or what _was_ the minotaur. How had he done it though, she didn't know.

She had no time to ask questions as suddenly the boy dropped backwards, right towards her, causing her to catch him. His eyes were shut but he was still managing to hold the horn tightly, though she imagined it weighed quite a bit.

With that, she began walking back towards camp, knowing she would have to explain a lot to her mistress.

* * *

Author's Note: Hey everyone, hope you're doing well, cause I sure am not. School has just started and it's already a pain, so that's always great.

Anyways, let me not ramble about how much I hate school and instead actually write an author's note. Though now that I think about it, I don't really have to say anything related to the story.

 **How many of you have watched Hunter x hunter?** I was thinking of doing a PJO-HunterxHunter crossover where Percy is a Zaoldyck but will also be connected to the greek mythology. I already have a lot of it planned out and I wanna write it eventually, I just wanna know how many of you actually watch HxH and wouldn't mind giving it a read.


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